


The Seymour Temper

by HMA64



Series: Normal Is Boring and Subjective. [2]
Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: F/F, Family Feels, Hurt/Comfort, Jane gets mad and then sad, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:49:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26100691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HMA64/pseuds/HMA64
Summary: Jane doesn't like getting angry. It reminds her too much of her last fight with Anne, of the way Henry used to scream at her. And it reminds her of her family. Jane is fully aware that, when she loses it, she sounds like her father and her brothers. She absolutely refuses to be like them. So she keeps her anger in check as best she can. Inevitably, it had to rear its head at some point.The unfortunate thing is who ended up on the receiving end...
Relationships: Anne Boleyn/Catherine Parr, Catherine of Aragon/Jane Seymour
Series: Normal Is Boring and Subjective. [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1881718
Comments: 16
Kudos: 87





	The Seymour Temper

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally gonna be my Random Headcanon #4 on parrlyn-and-neurodivergent-six (my new Six blog, I'm not saying you should follow it on Tumblr or anything, it's just for headcanons that don't get full fics 👀) buuuuut this ended up being pretty long and became it's own fic so yeah 😅

Jane really does have a bad temper. Kitty once says, point-blank, "your fuse is longer than anyone else's and even once the fuse is lit, you've got time to put it out. But your explosion is so much worse than any of ours. It's kind of scary."

It happens so rarely that she's never prepared when she does get really angry, but she also hates that, when she does lose it, she sounds like her family. Her father and her brothers. In her first life, she only really got angry with Anne, her ladies on occasion, and her family. Never with Henry, at least not to the point where she exploded. After her last fight with Anne (the one where Anne tore off her necklace), she'd made a concerted effort to keep her anger in check. She didn't want to become her father or her brothers (and after Anne died, Jane never fully forgave herself for that last argument, even after they reconciled in this life.)

In the early days of their new lives, Jane had been quiet, but over the course of the first few months, the others had gently encouraged Jane to speak her mind more often, especially after she, Catalina and Anne had sorted themselves out. Though still, Jane was careful to keep her temper in check.

* * *

They've barely started to plan the show out when she lets her temper get the better of her. She's not really angry at anyone in particular, more she's just had a rough week and she's tired and her head hurts and it doesn't excuse anything she does but...it's not anyone’s fault but hers. The really unfortunate thing is that the person she blows up at is Cathy. 

The sixth Queen is helping her write Heart of Stone, partly because Cathy has generally been elected as 'in charge of lyrics' and partly because Jane's dyslexia means she needs a little extra assistance. In hindsight, Jane really should have just told Cathy that she didn't feel up to writing that day, but she was already one of the last to get working on her song (mostly because she'd been so focused on doing the costumes) and she needed to get it done.

Cathy is rambling and she's so excited about her ideas and Jane is trying so hard to just let the younger woman take the lead because honestly? Jan has no clue how she wants her song to go. But it's just too much information too quickly and Jane can't keep up. And the more Cathy talks, the more ideas she has, the more stupid Jane feels for not having any ideas of her own. Eventually...

"Catherine, for the love of God would you SHUT UP FOR 2 MINUTES!?" Jane slams her hand onto the table as she says it and she's so annoyed that she doesn't immediately clock that Cathy flinches.

"I-I just...I was trying to-"

"You can't just RAMBLE ON for ages and expect people to catch up or listen to what you're saying! You're good with words but that doesn't mean you're better than any of the rest of us! I mean for goodness sake...!"

Jane doesn't stop ranting for a while and she's barely registering the fact that she's getting louder until...

"Jane!"

"WHAT?!"

And that's when she comes back. That's when she clocks that Catalina is stood in front of her, with a hand on each of her shoulders. That Catalina had been the one to yell, that she's looking Jane in the eye with a look of shock on her face.

It's when she clocks Anne kneeling on the ground, talking quietly to Cathy and...

Cathy's sobbing. 

Cathy is curled in a ball, on the floor, sobbing and covering her ears and Jane totally snaps out of her remaining frustration and tries to move closer. Lina’s hands stop her and for a second, Jane is confused. Then she hears what Anne is actually saying to Cathy:

"You're alright. He's not here Cath, Thomas isn't here..."

Jane freezes, one hand coming up to cover her mouth as she feels her eyes fill with tears. She looks at the three of them, thanking her lucky stars that Kitty and Anna were out with Maggie and Joan. Her gaze flits between Catalina and Cathy.

"I'm sorry..." She says hoarsely, she's not even sure if Cathy hears it over her cries, "I...oh God, Cathy I'm so sorry!"

Catalina catches her as her legs give way, causing her to fall forward. She's vaguely aware of Anne glancing over to her, her expression part worry, part fury, but all Jane is focusing on is the blue-clad woman who is looking back at her in total fear. Cathy is scared of her. Jane made Cathy afraid of her. Because Jane reminded her of Thomas.

She'd done the one thing she'd sworn she wouldn't.

She'd turned into her brother.

* * *

Anne manages to coax Cathy to her feet, though the other woman is still shaky, and starts to lead her out of the room. Catalina briefly looks between her goddaughter and Jane, but Anne gives her a very small smile. "I've got her, you look after Jane." Catalina nods to her, a grateful look on her face, before turning her attention back to Jane.

Anne guides Cathy up to her room and gets her tucked up in bed. Her heart just about breaks as she watches Cathy lay on her side and curl up, wrapping her arms around herself. She finishes covering Cathy with blankets, then turns to leave, but is stopped by a hand grabbing the edge of her sleeve. Anne turns back and sees Cathy tearing up again.

"Stay...please?" Asks Cathy and like hell is Anne saying no to that. 

She gently moves Cathy over a little, then climbs into bed next to her, aggressively pushing down the butterflies in her stomach as Cathy moves to rest her head over Anne's heart. Anne wraps her arms around Cathy and kisses the top of her head.

"You alright?" She asks, slowly starting to draw patterns on Cathy's back. Cathy lets out a shaky sigh and snuggles into Anne a little more, hoping that the second Queen can't see her blush. She nods slightly.

"She just...she sounded so much like Thomas. He'd get angry at me for rambling too much and he'd scream at me until I would meltdown, then scream more because I was 'acting like a child.'" She does weak air quotes around the last part and Anne feels the familiar rage form in her chest that always comes up when Thomas Seymour is discussed. Cathy takes another shuddering breath and Anne can't help but pull her closer. "J-Jane's going to hate me. I should have just kept my mouth shut, she doesn't need my help with the song! If I'd just-"

"Stop that." Says Anne, gently. She can feel Cathy's breathing rate increasing, can feel hot tears starting to hit her collarbone, "You know Jane. You know that she'd rather die again before she intentionally hurts any of us and you know she's not like Thomas." She sighs slightly and reaches one hand up to play with Cathy's hair, "Take it from someone who has been on the receiving end of a very pissed off Jane, she rarely means anything she says when she's mad. She doesn't hate you, she probably wasn't even angry at you. She's had a bad day or something and you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." She gives Cathy a small smile before saying, "Trust me, the Boleyn Temper and the Seymour Temper are pretty alike in that regard."

That gets a chuckle out of Cathy. Anne kisses her again, just on the forehead, and this time neither of them is really successful at hiding their blushes. "Catalina will calm her down and then she'll come up and apologize until she's blue in the face."

"You really don't think she hates me? No offence but you're as bad at reading people as I am sometimes." Cathy adds a smirk at that last part, but Anne can still hear the worry in her voice. She tightens her hug around Cathy and mutters, as smoothly as she can manage:

"I don't think anyone sane could hate you."

The giddiness that hits Cathy at that sentence is enough to drive away the rest of her worry.

* * *

While Anne is calming Cathy, Catalina is busy with Jane.

The eldest Queen just about manages to get Jane to the sofa (a feat made more impressive by the fact that Jane is borderline unresponsive.) She goes back to the kitchen and makes them both tea, trying to calm herself enough that she can talk to Jane. 

The same Jane that she's pretty certain she's developing feelings for.

The same Jane who just sent her goddaughter into a meltdown. 

Yeah, this conversation wasn't going to be fun.

By the time Lina walks back into the living room, Jane is still sitting on the sofa, head in her hands and clearly crying. Catalina puts the mugs of tea on the coffee table, then sits next to her and puts an arm around her.

"You want to explain what that was about?" She asks, as neutrally as possible. The third Queen jumps at the sound of Catalina’s voice and she turns to her with a stricken expression.

"Lina I-I swear I wasn't trying to...I didn't...I didn't mean to lose it like that I promise! I'm so s-sorry!" Jane crumbles then, hands coming back up to cover her face as violent sobs shake her body. Catalina’s remaining anger at the younger woman dissipates and she sighs as she pulls Jane into a hug. 

"It's alright love, you're fine-"

"It's not f-fine Lina! I screamed at Cathy! She was j-just trying to help and I started yelling at her..."

"Jane-"

"I sent her into a meltdown. What kind of friend does that?!"

"Jane, listen to me. Cathy's fine, Anne’s got her and-"

"I'm turning into Thomas!"

That gets Catalina to shut up. Apparently it gets Jane to shut up too, as she buries her face in the crook of Catalina’s neck and cries. After a couple of seconds, Lina manages to pull herself out of her shock at that statement and looks down Jane.

"Why in the world would you think that?" Jane just shrugs, not moving from her hiding place, but Lina is not letting this one stick so she pulls away and holds Jane by the arms until the other woman is looking at her. "No, seriously, why would you think that about yourself?"

Jane shrugs again, an almost resigned expression on her face now as she glances towards the stairs. "I always sounded like him when I got angry. I sounded like all of them. I tried Lina, I tried so hard after Anne..." She cuts herself off with a half-sob and takes a shaky breath before continuing, "I didn't want to become like my dad or my brothers, so I kept a handle on it. And then this week's just been so frustrating and I'm tired and Cathy is just so good with words, I couldn't keep up with her and I felt so stupid and I just...I didn't even realise what I was doing until you shouted at me." She looks down and pulls out of Catalina’s grip, "I did exactly what Thomas would've done and now Cathy's scared of me." She whispers, an air of finality in her voice. 

For a moment, Catalina doesn't say anything as she processes everything that Jane said. Then she reaches forward to take Jane's hand. The silver Queen's gaze immediately jumps up to meet hers and Catalina takes the opportunity to brush away some of the remaining tears. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but getting this upset over what happened doesn't seem like something your brother would do." She says softly, "Feeling bad about Cathy doesn't sound like something he would do. And apologising about it definitely doesn't sound like something he would do."

Jane looks like she's about to argue, so Catalina squeezes her hand before continuing.

"You might have a similar temper to your family Jane, but that doesn't mean you're like them. You feel bad when you're angry with someone. You regret what you do when you're angry. I know I never met them, but that doesn't seem like something they would have done. If anything, it sounds more like your cousins." She nudges Jane's shoulder at that, and Jane can't help but laugh a little. Both Kitty and Anne would get upset after they yelled at someone. Actually, the more Jane thinks about it, the more similar she realises she is to Anne and Kitty when it comes to things like this.

"Anne’s looking after Cathy. Give them half an hour and you can go apologize and those two will probably forget about it by tomorrow. Alright?" Jane hesitates for a moment before nodding and allowing Catalina to pull her into another hug.

"Thanks Lina." She mutters.

"No problem." She hears Lina reply, right by her ear. Jane doesn't pull away until she's sure the red has disappeared from her face. 

* * *

Half an hour later Catalina heads up to Cathy's room with Jane, the latter carrying a mug of hot chocolate for Cathy in one hand and the other hand holding Lina’s left. Lina, for her part, is carrying a cup of tea for Anne (because she refuses to give Anne sugar with Anna and Kitty there to keep her busy.)

Upon opening the door, they find two very asleep Queens curled up in Cathy's bed, both with slightly goofy smiles on their faces. The older two women look at each other briefly, both with knowing smiles and agree that Jane's apology can probably wait another 20 minutes.

**Author's Note:**

> I really didn't know how to end this 😅 Hope you liked this!!


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